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Local Group Pushes to Unify St. Louis City, County

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – Those calling for the unification of St. Louis City and County say they’re steadily gaining steam, especially on social media.

The grass-roots group “St. Louis Strong” are traveling around making presentations before civic groups, explaining that a region fragmented into more than 100 governmental entities is psychologically divided against itself.

St. Louis Strong Founder and President, Jake Hollander, says that having that amount of separate municipalities, stifles the region’s economy and adds to social and racial tensions.

“We spend a lot of time and effort to maintain, and money maintains our fragmentation…when we should be focusing on the larger issues,” St. Louis Strong Vice President Richard Bose says.

Bose adds by comparing our region to places like Louisville and Indianapolis, which have consolidated, the city and county are dealing with more than $750 million in excess spending every year.

St. Louis City and County combined are more than $1.2 billion in debt.